The leader of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference implies that the votes of millions of born-again Hispanics in America are up for grabs in the coming presidential election.

Hispanic evangelicals met in Anaheim, California, last weekend for what was tabbed as “Latin Leaders Fest.” The two-day event featured speakers such as evangelist Luis Palau and Pastor Alberto Delgado, and the husband-and-wife worship team Nic Gonzales and Jaci Velasquez.

During the gathering, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump made video pitches to the Latin Leaders Fest. Not surprisingly, both presidential candidates addressed immigration:

Clinton: “In this campaign I’ve met families across our country who live in fear of being torn apart by a broken immigration system.”

Trump: “We’re going to strengthen our borders. People are going to come into our country, but they’re going to come in through a process. They’ll come in legally, but we’re going to stop the drugs.”

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which organized the event. He says the two candidates were courting the 16 to 20 million Hispanic Christian voters. But, according to Rodriguez, they don’t vote the way people have been told.

“Hispanic evangelicals are actually more pro-life and have a stronger pro-life ethos than our Anglo and African-American brothers and sisters,” he tells OneNewsNow. “[We are] very strong pro-religious liberty. [We have] very strong family ethos, very strong – la familia, that’s where it emerges from.”

Rodriguez

And while the evangelical message really resonates, he says “we also have a commitment to justice and education equality. The community emerges as the quintessential independent voting constituency.”

When it comes to immigration, Rodriguez says they want secure borders and a stop to illegal immigration – but they don’t want their homes torn apart by deportations.

All that made for nervous moments as Rodriguez presented the candidates’ pitches. Would the conference boo the candidates? “At the end of both videos, my wonderful chief operating officer, Gus Reyes, stood up and said, ‘Well, I believe it’s time to pray’ – and everyone chuckled,” he shares.

And praying about the election is good advice for everyone, Rodriguez adds.